Month: January 2018

Countries like United Kingdom, Australia, China, Japan devote a lot of resources so that their athletes win gold medals at the Olympics,

However in India many athletes are complaining about the lack of support and the bureaucracy which they have to fight to get funds and the permission to participate in international events representing India.

United Kingdom, Australia have a relatively small population compared to India, yet many of their athletes are ranking first worldwide because of the excellent facilities and coaching that they receive, while India remains a nation which worships mediocrity

In India , the conditions for athletes have worsened according to Ashwini Nachappa who won medals in the Asian Games and is a columnist in the week and relatively fewer students are competing in school level games.

While P.T.Usha and Milkha Singh are well known for their fourth place in the Olympics, there are few high profile athletes getting coverage in the media. The rivalry between P.T.Usha and the glamorous philippino athlete Lydia de Vega got a lot of coverage in the media decades ago

However in 2018, few sprinters are getting coverage in the media, especially in India, where cricket, badminton, tennis, football are getting the most coverage.

Most of the world record holders for the 100 m sprint, especially for men, have traditionally been African American in Origin. Jesse Owens was the first high profile African American athlete in the 1936 Olympics

The world record holder for 100 m sprint for women is Usmain Bolt from Jamaica and the earlier record holders like Carl lewis are also African American in their ethnic background. While training plays a role in the success of athletes, it appears that genetic factors also determine whether an athlete will be successful in the sprints, especially for world class events.

In contrasts there are relative few Asians who have won world level sprint events of 100 m, 200 m and 400 m or are ranked in the top 10 in the world.